As semiconductor devices reach ever smaller dimensions, the challenge of power dissipation and quantum effect place a serious limit on the future device scaling. Recently, a multiferroic tunnel junction (MFTJ) with a ferroelectric barrier sandwiched between two ferromagneticelectrodes has drawn enormous interest due to its potential applications not only in multi-level data storage but also in electric field controlled spintronics and nanoferronics. Here, we present our investigations on four-level resistance states, giant tunneling electroresistance (TER) due to interfacial magnetoelectric coupling, and ferroelectric control of spin polarized tunneling in MFTJs. Coexistence of large tunneling magnetoresistance and TER has been observed in manganite/(Ba, Sr)TiO3/manganite MFTJs at low temperatures and room temperature four-resistance state devices were also obtained. To enhance the TER for potential logic operation with a magnetic memory, La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/BaTiO3/La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 /La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 MFTJs were designed by utilizing a bilayer tunneling barrier in which BaTiO3 is ferroelectric and La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 is close to ferromagnetic metal to antiferromagnetic insulator phase transition. The phase transition occurs when the ferroelectricpolarization is reversed, resulting in an increase of TER by two orders of magnitude. Tunneling magnetoresistance can also be controlled by the ferroelectricpolarization reversal, indicating strong magnetoelectric coupling at the interface.

Using a combination of density functional theory, tight-binding models, and Hartree-Fock theory, we predict topological phases with and without time-reversal symmetry breaking in oxide heterostructures. We consider both heterostructures containing light transition metal ions and those containing heavy transition metal ions. We find that the (111) growth direction naturally leads to favorable conditions for topological phases in both perovskite structures and pyrochlore structures. For the case of light transition metal elements, Hartree-Fock theory predicts the spin-orbit coupling is effectively enhanced by on-site multiple-orbital interactions and may drive the system through a topological phase transition, while heavy elements with intrinsically large spin-orbit coupling require much weaker or even vanishing electron interactions to bring about a topological phase.

Understanding the behavior of spins coupling across interfaces in the study of spin current generation and transport is a fundamental challenge that is important for spintronics applications. The transfer of spin angular momentum from a ferromagnet into an adjacent normal material as a consequence of the precession of the magnetization of the ferromagnet is a process known as spin pumping. We find that, in certain circumstances, the insertion of an intervening normal metal can enhance spin pumping between an excited ferromagnetic magnetization and a normal metal layer as a consequence of improved spin conductance matching. We have studied this using inverse spin Hall effect and enhanced damping measurements. Scanned probe magnetic resonance techniques are a complementary tool in this context offering high resolution magnetic resonance imaging, localized spin excitation, and direct measurement of spin lifetimes or damping. Localized magnetic resonance studies of size-dependent spin dynamics in the absence of lithographic confinement in both ferromagnets and paramagnets reveal the close relationship between spin transport and spin lifetime at microscopic length scales. Finally, detection of ferromagnetic resonance of a ferromagneticfilm using the photoluminescence of nitrogen vacancy spins in neighboring nanodiamonds demonstrates long-range spin transport between insulating materials, indicating the complexity and generality of spin transport in diverse, spatially separated, material systems.

A well designed coplanar waveguide (CPW) based center frequency tunable bandpass filter (BPF) at 4 GHz enabled with patterned Permalloy (Py) thin film has been implemented. The operating frequency of BPF is tunable with only DC current without the use of any external magnetic field. Electromagnetic bandgap resonators structure is adopted in the BPF and thus external DC current can be applied between the input and output of the filter for tuning of Py permeability. Special configurations of resonators with multiple narrow parallel sections have been considered for larger inductance tenability; the tunability of CPW transmission lines of different widths with patterned Py thin film on the top of the signal lines is compared and measured. Py thin film patterned as bars is deposited on the top of the multiple narrow parallel sections of the designed filter. No extra area is required for the designed filter configuration. Filter is measured and results show that its center frequency could be tuned from 4 GHz to 4.02 GHz when the DC current is applied from 0 mA to 400 mA.

Magnetocaloric and related properties of Ru and Ni substituted (MnFe)2(PSi) are presented. It is found that Ru and Ni are effective doping elements to reduce the thermal hysteresis of (MnFe)2(PSi). The origin of the thermal hysteresis is discussed on the basis of a thermodynamic model. It is shown that the elastic energy is responsible for the thermal hysteresis. We also show recent developments of the production process of Mn compounds in an industrial scale.

The objective of this study on the iconic exchange-bias bilayer Permalloy/CoO has been to identify those elements of the interfacialmicrostructure and accompanying magnetic properties that are responsible for the exchange-bias and hysteretic properties of this bilayer. Both epitaxial and polycrystalline samples were examined. X-ray and neutron reflectometry established that there existed an interfacial region, of width ∼1 nm, whose magnetic properties differed from those of Py or CoO. A model was developed for the interfacialmicrostructure that predicts all the relevant properties of this system; namely; the temperature and Permalloy thickness dependence of the exchange-bias, HEX, and coercivity, HC; the much smaller measured values of HEX from what was nominally expected; the different behavior of HEX and HC in epitaxial and polycrystalline bilayers. A surprising result is that the exchange-bias does not involve direct exchange-coupling between Permalloy and CoO, but rather is mediated by CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in the interfacial region.

In this paper, we use neutron scattering and electrical transport to investigate the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition in tetragonal CuMnAs films on GaP(001). X-ray diffraction and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy measurements show that the films are chemically ordered with high structural quality. The temperature dependence of the structurally forbidden (100) neutron scattering peak is used to determine the Néel temperature, TN. We then demonstrate the presence of a clear peak in the temperature derivative of the resistivity around TN. The effect of disorder-induced broadening on the shape of the peak is discussed.

Nanoscale magnets with characteristic dimensions in the range of 1–100 nm are important in several areas of nanoscience and technology. First, this length scale spans the typical important dimensions of exchange lengths and domain-wall widths, which means that significant control of magnetic properties can be obtained by varying grain or particle dimensions. Second, the nonequilibrium synthetic processes used for clusters, particles, and films, often lead to new real-space crystal structures with completely novel spin structures and magnetic properties. Third, a basic-science challenge in this class of matter involves the spin-polarized quantum mechanics of many-electron systems containing 10–10 000 atoms. Finally, the materials under study may have important future applications in high-density data storage, ultra-small spintronic devices, or high-energy magnetic materials. In this article, we discuss our recent work on novel Fe-Au nanoclusters, MnAu-Mn core-shell structures, and complex high-anisotropy Co-rich intermetallic compound clusters. We also present new results on Fe-based alloys including the magnetic properties of semiconducting FeSi2nanoclusters and spin correlations in FeGe nanoclusterfilms.

Quantification of spin-charge interconversion has become increasingly important in the fast-developing field of spin-orbitronics. Pure spin current generated by spin pumping acts as a sensitive probe for many bulk and interface spin-orbit effects, which has been indispensable for the discovery of many promising new spin-orbit materials. We apply spin pumping and inverse spin Hall effect experiments, as a useful metrology, and study spin-orbit effects in a variety of metals and metal interfaces. We quantify the spin Hall effects in Ir and W using the conventional bilayer structures and discuss the self-induced voltage in a single layer of ferromagnetic permalloy. Finally, we extend our discussions to multilayer structures and quantitatively reveal the spin current flow in two consecutive normal metal layers.

We report on the effect of substituting Co and Ni for Fe on the crystallization behavior, crystal structure, and magnetic properties of Fe88−2xCoxNixZr7B4Cu1 (x = 0–22.00). The magnetization generally decreases and the coercivity increases with increasing x, whereas the Curie temperature of the amorphous phase increases significantly (from 73 °C at x = 0 to 570 °C at x = 22.00). There is thus an optimum composition near x = 5.50 exhibiting excellent soft magnetic properties at 300–500 °C. The higher magnetization and Curie temperature as compared with Fe-based alloys, and smaller Co content as compared with (Fe,Co)-based alloys, make this alloy attractive as an affordable high-temperature soft magnetic material.

We show that square and kagome artificial spin ices with disconnected islands exhibit disorder-induced nonequilibrium phase transitions. The critical point of the transition is characterized by a diverging length scale and the effective spin reconfiguration avalanche sizes are power-law distributed. For weak disorder, the magnetization reversal is dominated by system-spanning avalanche events characteristic of a supercritical regime, while at strong disorder, the avalanche distributions have subcritical behavior and are cut off above a length scale that decreases with increasing disorder. The different type of geometrical frustration in the two lattices produces distinct forms of critical avalanche behavior. Avalanches in the square ice consist of the propagation of locally stable domain walls separating the two polarized ground states, and we find a scaling collapse consistent with an interface depinning mechanism. In the fully frustrated kagome ice, however, the avalanches branch strongly in a manner reminiscent of directed percolation. We also observe an interesting crossover in the power-law scaling of the kagome iceavalanches at low disorder. Our results show that artificial spin ices are ideal systems in which to study a variety of nonequilibrium critical point phenomena as the microscopic degrees of freedom can be accessed directly in experiments.

Exponential growth of the areal density has driven the magnetic recording industry for almost sixty years. But now areal density growth is slowing down, suggesting that current technologies are reaching their fundamental limit. The next generation of recording technologies, namely, energy-assisted writing and bit-patterned media, remains just over the horizon. Two-Dimensional Magnetic Recording (TDMR) is a promising new approach, enabling continued areal density growth with only modest changes to the heads and recording electronics. We demonstrate a first generation implementation of TDMR by using a dual-element read sensor to improve the recovery of data encoded by a conventional low-density parity-check (LDPC) channel. The signals are combined with a 2D equalizer into a single modified waveform that is decoded by a standard LDPC channel. Our detection hardware can perform simultaneous measurement of the pre- and post-combined error rate information, allowing one set of measurements to assess the absolute areal density capability of the TDMR system as well as the gain over a conventional shingled magnetic recording system with identical components. We discuss areal density measurements using this hardware and demonstrate gains exceeding five percent based on experimental dual reader components.

Hitperm-type rapidly quenched ribbons were submitted to field annealing, both longitudinal field (LF) and transversal field (TF) to the axis of the ribbon. LF annealing yields a reduction of the magnetic anisotropy and results can be explained in the frame of random anisotropy model. A coercivity of 3 A/m is obtained for Fe39Co39Nb6B15Cu1alloy. The addition of Cu to these Nb-containing Hitperm-type alloys is a key factor to refine the microstructure in order to reach this very low coercivity value. TF annealing produces samples with sheared hysteresis loops suitable for sensor and high frequency applications.

Magnetoresistance(MR) reported in some non-magnetic semiconductors (particularly silicon) has triggered considerable interest owing to the large magnitude of the effect. Here, we showed that MR in lightly doped n-Si can be significantly enhanced by introducing two diodes and proper design of the carrier path [Wan, Nature 477, 304 (2011)]. We designed a geometrical enhanced magnetoresistance (GEMR) device whose room-temperature MR ratio reaching 30% at 0.065 T and 20 000% at 1.2 T, respectively, approaching the performance of commercial MR devices. The mechanism of this GEMR is: the diodes help to define a high resistive state (HRS) and a low resistive state (LRS) in device by their openness and closeness, respectively. The ratio of apparent resistance between HRS and LRS is determined by geometry of silicon wafer and electrodes.Magnetic field could induce a transition from LRS to HRS by reshaping potential and current distribution among silicon wafer, resulting in a giant enhancement of intrinsic MR. We expect that this GEMR could be also realized in other semiconductors. The combination of high sensitivity to low magnetic fields and large high-field response should make this device concept attractive to the magnetic field sensing industry. Moreover, because this MR device is based on a conventional silicon/semiconductor platform, it should be possible to integrate this MR device with existing silicon/semiconductor devices and so aid the development of silicon/semiconductor-based magnetoelectronics. Also combining MR devices and semiconducting devices in a single Si/semiconductor chip may lead to some novel devices with hybrid function, such as electric-magnetic-photonic properties. Our work demonstrates that the charge property of semiconductor can be used in the magnetic sensing industry, where the spin properties of magnetic materials play a role traditionally.

Magnetostrictive behaviors under rotating magnetic fields are investigated for bcc(001) single-crystalfilms of Fe100−x-Six(x = 0, 6, 10 at. %). The magnetostriction observation directions are along bcc[100] and bcc[110] of the films. The magnetostriction waveform varies greatly depending on the observation direction. For the observation along [100], the magnetostriction waveform of all the films is bathtub-like and the amplitude stays at almost constant even when the magnetic field is increased up to the anisotropy field. On the other hand, the waveform along [110] is triangular and the amplitude increases with increasing magnetic field up to the anisotropy field and then saturates. In addition, the waveform of Fe90Si10film is distorted triangular when the applied magnetic fields are less than its anisotropy field. These magnetostrictive behaviors under rotating magnetic fields are well explained by employing a proposed modified coherent rotation model where the anisotropy field and the magnetization reversal field are determined by using measured magnetization curves. The results show that magnetocrystalline anisotropy plays important role on magnetostrictive behavior under rotating magnetic fields.

Wireless sensors capable of scavenging energy from ambient environment have been increasingly attractive for their outstanding merits of self-sufficient and maintenance-free. This paper presents a specific design of magnetic energy harvester based on a piezoelectric/magnet composite and a magnetic concentrator. With the employment of concentrator, the energy harvesting properties have been greatly improved, which is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated with the 35 times power enlargement. The fabricated prototype with a 3 cm air-gap concentrator harvests 326 μW power at 10 Arms, which enables sufficient and reliable power supply for a wide range of low-power sensors.

Techniques for identifying defects in metals are very important in a wide variety of manufacturing areas. The present paper reports an eddy current testing method that employs a nano-granular in-gap magnetic sensor (GIGS) to detect internal defects in aluminum boards. The GIGS consists of a tunnel magnetoresistive film with nanometer sized grains and two yokes. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the nano-granular film exhibits only a small change in resistance due to the tunnel magnetoresistive effect. However, by placing it between two yokes, the magnetic flux can be greatly concentrated, thus increasing the change in resistance. The GIGS is a magnetic-field sensor that exploits this principle to achieve enhanced sensitivity. Moreover, because it has a cross-sectional yolk area of just 80 μm × 0.5 μm, it achieves outstanding spatial resolution. In the present study, it is used in combination with an eddy-current method in order to detect internal defects in aluminum. In this method, an excitation coil is used to apply an AC magnetic field perpendicular to the aluminum surface. This induces eddy currents in the metal, which in turn give rise to an AC magnetic field, which is then measured by the GIGS. The presence of defects in the aluminum distorts the eddy current flow, causing a change in the magnitude and distribution of the magnetic field. Such changes can be detected using the GIGS. In the present study, the proposed method was used to successfully detect indentations with diameters of 5 mm on the rear surface of an aluminum plate.

Low magnetic loss ferrite composites consisting of Ba(CoTi)1.2Fe9.6O19 and BiFeO3 (BFO) ferrite were investigated for permeability, permittivity, and high frequency losses at 10 MHz–1 GHz. The phase fraction of BiFeO3 was quantitatively analyzed by X-ray diffractionmeasurements. An effective medium approach was employed to predict the effective permeability and permittivity for the ferrite composites, which was found to be in good agreement with experimental data. The experiment demonstrated low magnetic losses (<0.128), modified by BFO phase fraction, while retaining high permeability (∼10.86) at 300 MHz. More importantly, the BFO phase resulted in a reduction of magnetic loss by 32%, as BFO phase increased from 2.7 vol. % to 12.6 vol. %. The effect of BFO phase on magnetic and dielectric properties revealed great potential for use in the miniaturization of high efficiency antennas.

The application of giant magnetoresistance(GMR)currentsensors in power grid and other industrial fields has a great prospect benefitting from their wide bands, high sensitivity, and good linearity. This paper studies the influence of mobile ions on current measurement of GMRsensor under high external electric field. The R-H curves of GMR multilayer sensor were depicted when the external electric and magnetic fields were both changed under three orthogonal electric field orientations. The experiment results indicate slightly varying resistances of GMRsensor when the external electric field was changed, and simulation analysis reveals that the resistance variation is attributed to the movement of surface ions under high external electric field. Therefore, a Faraday box is essential for GMRsensors to avoid interferences under high-strength field conditions, which is especially significant for their application as currentsensors of the power grid.